Riot "Thundersteel"

Thundersteel is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Riot, released after coming back from a period of inactivity in the mid-80s. It features a totally different line-up from that of the previous work, with only Reale left as stable member.

It was re-issued in 2003 by Collectables Records with slightly amended artwork and re-issued on 180g vinyl as a 2-LP set with The Privilege of Power by SPV on February 25, 2013. The album originally charted at No. 150 on Billboard 200

The song "Thundersteel" was originally written by Mark Reale and Don Van Stavern for Narita, a short-lived project Reale formed with members of S.A.Slayer following the demise of Riot in 1984. A demo released by Narita exists, with "Thundersteel" and two other tracks: "Liar" and "The Feeling Is Gone". The song's cover appears as a bonus track on 2013 album "Possession" by the Polish heavy metal band Crystal Viper.

The song "Flight of the Warrior" was covered by the Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall on their 2008 album Masterpieces. A cover of "Flight of the Warrior" also appears as a bonus track on the 2013 album Beneath the Surface by German metal band Alpha Tiger who've performed the song live as well.

The album's sound has been described as power metal; with AllMusic writer Brian O'Neill going into great detail describing what all went into its sound, saying, "The disc takes cues from everything that was metal at the time, combining classic European styles reminiscent of Judas Priest's heavier moments (a premonition for Painkiller), thrashing guitars and pounding percussion indicative of the then-burgeoning underground thrash movement (it's got more riffs than Anthrax ever had), and undertones of the hair metal that was riding the charts at the time (especially in appearance) into a cohesive moment of refined ferocity."

In 2008, the album's personnel reunited for 2009's Sweden Rock Festival. The album was reissued in Japan on October 7 in 2009. A 30th anniversary version of the album was released in 2018.

Track listing

1. "Thundersteel" Reale, Van Stavern 3:49
2. "Fight or Fall" Van Stavern 4:25
3. "Sign of the Crimson Storm" Reale 4:40
4. "Flight of the Warrior" Moore, Reale, Van Stavern 4:17
5. "On Wings of Eagles" Moore, Reale, Van Stavern 5:41
6. "Johnny's Back" Moore, Reale, Van Stavern 5:32
7. "Bloodstreets" Moore, Reale 4:39
8. "Run for Your Life" Moore, Reale, Van Stavern 4:08
9. "Buried Alive (Tell Tale Heart)" Moore, Reale, Van Stavern, Jarzombek, Bob Held, Steve Loeb 8:55

Total length: 46:06

- Comes with printed inner sleeve.

- The song "Run for Your Life" has nothing to do with the song of the same name on Fire Down Under.

A music video was made for the song "Bloodstreets".

Recording information:

- Recorded and mixed exclusively on the AMEK APC 1000 Console at Greene Street Recording, NYC. 

- Mastered at Masterdisk, NYC.